Portal:Oregon/Selected biography/20

D. B. Cooper (aka "Dan Cooper") is a pseudonym of an aircraft hijacker who, on November 24, 1971, after receiving a ransom payout of US$200,000, jumped from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest of the United States somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, possibly over Woodland, Washington. Three significant clues have turned up in the case. In February 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram found approximately $5,800 in decaying $20 bills that were uncovered on the banks of the Columbia River. Ingram was eventually allowed to keep $2,860 of the money. In late 1978, a placard which contained instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727, believed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped, was found just a few flying minutes north of Cooper's projected drop zone. In October 2007, the FBI announced it obtained a partial DNA profile of Cooper from the tie he left on the hijacked plane. The Cooper case (code-named "Norjak" by the FBI) still remains an unsolved mystery. On December 31, 2007, the FBI revived the unclosed case by publishing never before seen composite sketches and fact sheets online in an attempt to trigger memories that could possibly identify Cooper. In a press release, the FBI reiterated that it does not believe Cooper survived the jump. The FBI expressed an interest in obtaining his identity.